Protect
your computer from hackers!
Learn how to prevent yourself from being a victim and a distributor
of computer email viruses and worms. Take these simple precautions:

NEVER open
an attachment in an email UNLESS you are sure you understand
what it is and why it's been sent to you. When in doubt, delete.
You can always write back to the person who sent it and ask
if they intended to send an attachment and to please explain
what it was and then resend it. Most viruses are triggered by
unwitting victims opening an attachment.

INSTALL
PROTECTION SOFTWARE -- NOW! Once you have it, you will help
stop the spread of viruses. If you don't have it, you will sooner
or later regret leaving yourself so vulnerable. It is absolutely
worth the money spent for it! (See the list of anti-virus software
on the right.)

BLOCK PORN
and other spam, as well as viruses, with a program called MailWasher
Pro. For a very low price, MailWasher will look inside
your mailbox before you run your email program, identify the
porn and spam and viruses, and delete it for you. It will even
help you fight back by sending a bounce message that tells the
spammer that your address is invalid (so that it's removed from
their mailing list). Then you can safely open your email.

Find out
what's NOT a virus and don't clog up the internet spreading
false alarms. When you get word of a virus, take a minute to
check it out first, before forwarding the message to others
and embarrassing yourself. Here's a great site for this research:
urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm

BEWARE
OF SPIES, HACKERS & KEY LOGGERS!There
are programs that can spy into your computer. It happens when
people download a program (such as a game) that comes bundled
with "Sputnik" or "VX2" or another brand
of spyware. It installs itself silently on your computer and
then monitors your "clickstream" as you navigate around
the web, sending information about your activities (including
credit card numbers!), back to the originator. Disclaimers claim
that credit card info will not be used (sooo -- why get it then?)

To
make matters worse, there seems to be a connection between this
and an increase of popup ads while surfing the Internet!

You can
tell if you're infected with VX2 by searching for the "VX2.dll"
file on your system. Instructions for uninstalling the software
are located at http://www.vx2.cc

Always
be careful about what you download. Is it from a trustworthy
software manufacturer? But since "trust" is only
a guess, the best advice is to extend your anti-virus protection
to include anti-spyware (to block your personal information
from being taken without your permission), anti-hacker-tools
(to prevent hijackers from accessing your PC), anti-key-loggers
(to safeguard your passwords and other private stuff) and
anti-worms (to hack away at hacker tools that can exploit
your computer even after they're gone).